Out Of Time
by MrData
Summary: The Doctor and Rose go for a meal at a restaurant with a difference!


Doctor Who - Out of time.

I had the Doctor and Rose played by Christopher Eccellston and Billie Piper in mind when I wrote this story. Hope you enjoy it. Please review!

Rose took one last look at the London street and then closed the door of the TARDIS. Thanks to the Doctor, the planet had been saved once again. She wondered just how many lives he had saved in all the time he had been jumping backwards and forwards through time. Thousands? Millions? More? She watched the large screen by the door as the London landscape dissolved into the now familiar flashes and streaks of the time stream.  
The Doctor was at present trying to wire some strange looking device into the main navigation computer of the TARDIS. Rose still didn't know how to fly the time machine, but she new what most of the panels on the circular console was for. Many of the panels had extra little devices plugged or hot-wired into the circuitry, and most of it only partially did what it was supposed to.  
Still, as the Doctor said, 'She doesn't do bad for a nine hundred year old.  
"Where to this time?" she asked the Doctor, watching him weld wires together with his sonic screwdriver.  
"Dunno." The Doctor shrugged, sticking his tongue out and closing one eye, as if to aid his concentration. Rose was about to reply but was thrown to the floor by a sudden change in the TARDIS's direction. She landed on her side but was quickly back on her feet, ignoring a sharp pain in her thigh. Her ears were filled with a screeching sound, as if metal was being bent out of shape.  
"What was that?!" She asked.  
"Not sure." Replied the Doctor, examining a screen on the console. "Either we've just crashed or we're about to crash"  
"What? What do you mean?" Said Rose, slightly annoyed at the Doctor's usually cryptic answer to a dangerous situation. "How can we have crashed? What else is there in the time streams? If we've crashed, how come we're still moving"  
"Who knows?" The Doctor replied, running from panel to panel, checking screens and adjusting various controls. "Exciting though, isn't it"  
"That's not what I'd call it." Said Rose quietly.  
"Hmm." muttered the Doctor to himself. "That's interesting"  
"What is"  
"Well, it looks like we've been pulled sideways into an inter-dimensional vortex"  
"Which means"  
"A concentrated tunnel made of tachyon particles to aid transport from one set of dimensions to another"  
"Pardon"  
The doctor stopped what he was doing and turned to face her. "It's a hyperspace bypass"  
Rose stared at him blankly. He let out a sigh. "A wormhole"  
Rose shrugged.  
"OK, it's a shortcut, alright? Now stop playing that game"  
"What game?" she asked innocently.  
"The game where you pretend you don't know anything about four dimensional physics"  
There was a dull thud beneath their feet.  
"Oh good!" smiled the Doctor. "We've arrived"  
"Arrived where"  
"Somewhere magical!"

They stepped out of the door onto a large flat concrete slab. Actually, large just didn't do it justice. This slab of concrete was half the size of a planet. It was filled with spaceships of every shape Rose could image, and a few that were beyond imagination. They could see for miles in every direction, as though they were stood on top of low hill. The sky was completely cloudless, and a bright sun glinted of the hulls of the ships.  
"Wow." was all Rose could manage.  
They stood next to the TARDIS and watched a humanoid robot lumber up to them. It stopped a few feet in front of them and turned its large square head toward them.  
"Hello," it said in a deep, monotone voice. "Would you like me to park your spaceship for you"  
"Err, no thanks." replied the Doctor. "She's happy where she is, thank you very much"  
"Are you sure?" said the mechanoid. "It's really no bother"  
"No thanks." said the Doctor with a smile.  
"As you wish." said the machine and lumbered off toward the next ship.  
"What a strange robot!" giggled Rose when the machine had gone.  
"That's right, insult the robot as soon as he's out of sight. Typical." said the machine from the other side of the neighbouring ship.  
"Sorry!" shouted Rose, blushing.

"Look at that!" said the Doctor excitedly. He was pointing at a building on the horizon. Rose stared hard at it. It looked like a sports stadium of some sort, but looked enormous.  
"Great!" she said "But how do we get from here to there"  
"Easy! We just thumb a lift!" replied the Doctor. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver, adjusted the setting on it and held it as high as he could. Within seconds what looked like a flying bus dropped like a stone from the sky and stopped a foot above the ground. It happened so fast it was almost as if it had just appeared in front of them.  
The Doctor walked up to the door which swung open before him. "Well?" he called. "Are you coming"  
Rose laughed and jumped on the bus after him. They weaved their way between seat of all different shapes and sizes, full of aliens of matching shapes and sizes until they found a pair of empty seats near the back. The bus shot up into the sky once more and sped towards the stadium in the distance.  
"Look," whispered the Doctor, "that's a Purple Slime Beast from Pilchard III. I thought they were extinct! Rose, whatever you do, whatever happens, never, ever step on her tentacles"  
"Why? What would happen? Would she eat me, or kill me, or just strangle me"  
"No, it's just impolite"  
"Oh, right."

The bus landed within a few moments and the occupants started to disembark. Rose and the Doctor waited until it was empty and then jumped off. They found themselves standing right in front of the stadium building. It towered a hundred stories above them and stretched further than the eye could see in each direction. There were doorways along the side of the building, with long queues at each one.  
Rose looked up at the building. There was a huge sign above where they were standing, but it was so big she could only make out the letters 'ILL.  
"Better join a queue." said the Doctor, striding towards the shortest line of aliens. Rose jogged to keep up with him. The queue moved fairly quickly, and before long they were at the door, where two large bald men in black suits stopped them. The two men were exactly identical, apart front one was standing on the left and the other was standing on the right.  
"Name?" the left doorman asked.  
"The Doctor." said the Doctor proudly.  
"Doctor who?" said the right doorman, checking the computer he was holding.  
"No, just 'The Doctor' " said the Doctor.  
"Oh, The Doctor!" said the left doorman smiling. "We were expecting you with a different face. Sorry! Let me see now...oh yes, here we are. Credit rating 112 million. In you go!" He stepped sideways to allow passage.  
"You have to have a good credit rating to get in?" queried Rose. "Never heard of doormen checking credit before"  
"Oh, we're not doormen!" Laughed the right-hand doorman.  
"No, we're accountants!" said his twin.  
"You've got to have an account to come in here. Do you have an account, miss"  
"This is Rose Tyler." announced the Doctor. "She's with me"  
"Rose Tyler?" said the right doorman, checking his computer. "Oh, yes. Credit rating 6 million. Hmmm. Enough for a starter"  
"Only six?" inquired the Doctor. "I set her account up ages ago"  
"Account?" asked Rose.  
"I'll explain later." said the Doctor. "But you should have had more than that in there"  
"Well, six million pounds would have been very nice back on Earth!" laughed Rose. Then she realised that it had gone very quiet around them.  
"Don't mention where you come from." whispered the Doctor. "People have strange ideas about your home world"  
Just then a tall man pushed through the crowd. He was in his forties, and dressed in pajamas, slippers and a tatty dressing gown.  
"I'm sorry to eavesdrop, but did you say you were from Earth?" He said in a nervous voice whilst shaking Rose by the hand. "I'm Arthur Dent. I came from Earth too, in the year 1985. What year are you from"  
"Err, 2006." said Rose, stunned.  
"2006?" repeated Arthur. "But the Vogons destroyed Earth just after we left, unless..." His eyes lit up as if he'd found the cure to some fatal disease. "Oh, of course! The Mice! The Mice must have had another planet Earth built"  
"Yeah, right, the mice." said Rose, trying to pull her hand out of his grip and back away.  
"Arthur Dent?" Said the Doctor. "Hey, I've heard of you! Only human to survive the destruction of the Earth! Nice to meet you"  
Another man came running up to them. He was shorter than Arthur, dressed in a worn blazer and carrying a battered leather satchel over one shoulder.  
"Arthur! We're just about to go in. Come on!" Then he noticed who else was standing close by. "Hello Doctor! Good to see you again! Thanks for the tip-off about that Vogon fleet. You saved our necks there"  
"Hello Ford! Happy to help!" smiled the Doctor. "Come on Rose, our table awaits"  
"What was that all about?" asked Rose. "The Earth wasn't invaded and destroyed in 1985"  
"His was, but not yours." the Doctor replied.  
Rose thought for a moment. "Different dimension?" she asked.  
"Nope, same dimension, same planet, different version"  
"Different version? Of Earth"  
"Yep." He gave her a grin.  
"How many versions have there been"  
"Oh, only two. The Mice couldn't afford to build a third! Come on, I'm starving!"

The went through the doorway, leaving Ford and Arthur trying to push back into their original positions in the next queue and stepped into the interior of the stadium. Rose was again hit by the sheer size of the structure, as the other side of the building was hidden by a fog. She guessed it must have been ten miles wide, at least. The room, if one could call such a large area a room, was filled with tables.  
"What is this place, a restaurant?" she asked.  
"Not just any restaurant, madam." said a deep voice behind them.  
They were approached by a tall thin waiter who waved a hand at the tables. "This," he said proudly, "Is Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe"  
The waiter led them between a hundred tables until they came to an empty one. Once they were seated the waiter left. Rose had a good look around. In the very centre of the stadium there was a large stage, about forty metres in diameter. Above it was an enormous screen, presumably to display what was on the stage.  
On a nearby table, an elderly man with messy white hair was laughing loudly. Rose stared at him. He seemed rather familiar, but she didn't recognise him until he turned his head in their direction.  
"Doctor, that's Albert Einstein"  
"Yep. Do you want his autograph? We're quite good friends, actually"  
He leaned towards Einstein's table. "Hey Albert"  
Einstein turned his head at hearing his name. "Doctor!" He said with a wide smile. "It is good to see you! And with such a pretty companion, too"  
Rose blushed.  
"What do you think of this place then?" The Doctor asked, waving a hand around.  
"I think I had better have a good look at some of my equations!" Einstein replied, and the other people on his table laughed euphorically.  
Rose didn't recognise one of the diners, but the other two were definitely Elvis and Marilyn Munroe.

"Would Sir and Madam be ready to order now?" Said the waiter, who seemed to just appear next to them.  
"Don't you have any menus?" Rose asked innocently.  
"Menus?" asked the waiter.  
"Rose, this is Milliways! They don't have menus, you just ask for anything you want!" laughed the Doctor.  
"Your companion is correct, Madam. One simply orders anything one desires"  
The Doctor and Rose exchanged glances and tried not to laugh. "No, he's the Doctor and I'm the companion." Rose explained.  
"Of course you are." Said the waiter. "Would Sir and Madam be ready to order now?" He repeated.  
"I'll have steak and chips, please!" said the Doctor, smiling.  
"Very good, Sir. A number 6501"  
"6501? What does that mean?" Asked Rose.  
"The number denotes the popularity of the dish that Sir has ordered. 'Steak and chips' is 6501st most asked for dish. And what would Madam desire"  
"Anything I wish"  
"Anything Madam desires." said the waiter.  
"Okay, I'll have a Big Mac meal and a coke"  
"Very good Madam. A number 1 with coke"  
Rose and the Doctor burst out in a fit of giggles as the waiter stood staring at them, a puzzled look on his face.  
Just then, a younger waiter ran up to them, weaving his way through the tables.  
"Sir! Sir!" He was shouting. "We have a problem with the Daleks, Sir"  
Rose and the Doctor both stiffened at hearing the name of their deadliest enemy.  
"What's the problem, Jenkins"  
"They said the soup was cold Sir, but we couldn't get it any hotter without it melting the bowls"  
Rose and the Doctor spun around to look where the young man had been pointing. About a hundred metres away, a group of five Daleks were standing around a table waving their appendages about, with three waiters trying in vain to calm them down. There was a flash of light and one of the waiters was instantly vaporized.  
The waiter that had taken their order sighed, but then smiled in relief. "At least it was one of the agency's waiters and not one of my own staff"  
He turned back to the Doctor and Rose and gave then a quick bow of his head. "Please excuse me."

"What a strange place!" Rose exclaimed. "What's going to happen next"  
As if to answer her, two thin gray aliens glided up to them. They had large heads with two large black eyes, which looked like dark goldfish bowls stuck to their faces. Rose was surprised they could walk on such spindly legs.  
"Please forgive us, but we overheard your conversation at the entrance. Our father landed on your Earth in your mid twentieth century, 1947 I believe it was. Did you hear of him"  
The alien's voice sounded like bells from heaven to Rose.  
"There was a supposed alien crash in the desert in 1947, but I don't know much about it." She said.  
"Perhaps you have heard of the town which the Humans built in our father's honour. His name was Are Asi"  
"Are Asi?" Repeated Rose, shrugging. "Sorry, but I've never heard of it"  
The Doctor smiled, grabbed a napkin and scribbled something on it.  
Rose looked at the napkin. It read :  
'Are AsiAreasiArea siArea 51'  
Rose stared at it for a second, her mouth open. "Oh, that place! I've never been there, but I heard the lights in the sky there are very pretty. I think they nicknamed it dreamland or something like that"  
"Dreamland." said the alien, making the word sound like a song. "That sounds nice"  
"We will retreat now, and let you enjoy you meal. I think the show is about to begin." The aliens turned to leave, but then turned back. "Doctor, if you would...?" It held out a book and a pen towards him.  
"Happy to!" laughed the Doctor, signing the autograph book.  
Rose watched the aliens glide away, chiming and singing to each other.

The waiter appeared again carrying a tray. He placed a plate in from of each of them. Rose stared at the burger and chips in front of her. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "It looks just like the real thing"  
"It is the real thing!" laughed the Doctor. "When was it made?" He asked the waiter.  
"January 18th, 1998"  
Rose took a bite. It tasted better than she remembered.  
"Enjoy your meals" The waiter said and disappeared with a deep bow.

Suddenly, the spotlights went on and illuminated the large stage in the very centre of the arena. Rose watched as a figure in a silver suit jumped on to the stage and introduced himself as 'Max Quordlepleen' or something like that. He had a shifty look about him, not helped by his jet black hair which seemed to be greased back with dirty engine oil. His sliver suit reflected the faces of the front row of the audience, with some of the females swooning and screaming at him.  
He told a few jokes and then swung an arm at the ten story screen behind him, shouting "Let the show begin"  
Rose stared mesmerized as the screen flickered and the settled on and what looked like a telescope image of a green-blue planet, rotating slowly. The planet could have been Earth but the oceans and land masses were different shapes. The planet's gray moons spun around it, but then slowly fell inwards and impacted on the planet, crushing it. Then the star burning in the background shone brighter and brighter until it went supernova and destroyed what was left of the planet and its moons.  
"Wow!" said Rose in Awe. "I've never seen anything like it"  
The picture was replaced by another planet, spinning slowly around its parent star, which in turn was rotating around a black hole. The star and planet began falling slowly into the black hole, distorting it as it fell.  
Rose became aware of a noise behind her. Spinning around, they saw the Daleks had left their table and were cutting a path of destruction towards them.  
"Time to go!" Shouted the Doctor, standing up.  
"Awww, but I want to see the planet fall into the black hole"  
A very hairy being on a nearby table overheard her comment and stood up.  
"That's MY planet!" He growled.  
"Ok, now it's really time to go!" shouted the Doctor over the explosions from the Daleks and the growls from the nearby table. Grabbing Rose by the arm, he dragged her towards the railing a few tiers below them. Looking over the edge, Rose guessed they were at least two hundred feet up from the ground floor of the stadium. The Doctor dug in his jacket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, holding it aloft once more. Within seconds the TARDIS was hovering twenty feet away from them.  
"What good is that!?" Rose shouted at him.  
"Hang on a moment!" Said the Doctor, fiddling with his screwdriver. The TARDIS began to move closer slowly. As soon as it was within arms reach, he opened the door and dragged Rose inside. Running to the main console he slapped a control and Rose heard the familiar 'warping' noise that meant they were on their way.  
"Next time we eat out," panted Rose, "I'll choose the restaurant, OK?"

End. 


End file.
